SIGNIS Awards, choose from entertainment

Transcend the show

How do I turn my gaze to entertainment that nurtures me as a cultural, artistic product?

Where do we draw from to see beyond entertainment?

The SIGNIS Organization has provided a product from its origins (OCIC) that can take us by the hand to resolve these issues; is about:

The SIGNIS awards

The most experienced and traveled role over the years by OCIC-Signis is its presence at film festivals, a cultural meeting that in one way or another provides our work material: the SIGNIS award that we grant.

SIGNIS has participated in Film Festivals since 1947. At that time, when it was called OCIC (International Catholic Film Office), it was recognized by the FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers). This organization, the world's highest authority, grants the category, according to its importance, to the Film Festivals,

The FIAPF considered that OCIC gathered enough stauts to participate with their own juries in class A festivals.

There are more than thirty recognized festivals in the world in this category in which our organization participates by contributing independent juries since they do not constitute the officers that all the samples have.

How the juries of our organization are constituted

SIGNIS World, whose headquarters since its origin, operates in Brussels, has more than one hundred and thirty associates in the world. Many of its members are professionals linked to cinema from the direction, production, research, critical press or academic training and activity. Their experience and ability in these tasks make them potential participants as jurors. According to the background and characteristics of the different samples, these members are assigned from Brussels to integrate the juries in the international samples, which in most cases began being five in number and which in recent years have been reduced, generally to three, due to economic cuts carried out in the different countries organizing the exhibitions.

Sometimes, the organization also integrates the figure of "guest" to the jury, designating film professionals, directors or actors from films awarded by Signis in previous festivals.

It should be noted that the participation by the members is not remunerated and in almost all cases the trips to the various latitudes are paid for by the designated member; The only possible advantage, not in all cases assured, is the accommodation and some meals at the cost of the festival for the invited juries. This indicates that there is an important personal contribution in the economic order, by the members of SIGNIS who participate; not without acknowledging how naturally exciting it can be for a movie buff to participate in these kinds of events.

It is also the case that the associates participate in local festivals that are organized in their respective countries, but in this instance the members who will act as juries are chosen by the local authorities. Although its objectives are obviously coincident with those of Signis Mundial and similar election mechanisms.

What it's like to participate in a festival

I want to refer to the environment that acts as a general framework. In most cases they are large-scale festivals (Class A), prestigious and belonging to a world where large productions of renowned directors and artists compete. Where there is a red carpet and stars of the film industry are recognized The magnitude of these festivals can vary even within the same category

But the great reason for the investments destined by the organizers to these events is to create a space to stimulate the industry, encourage the productions and distribution of material from the films that want to ensure movement within the circuit. Indirectly it could be conceived as a kind of job bank. However, there are also other objectives: the countries, cities or municipalities that convene and organize know that events of this type contribute to culture and tourism, showing their places and making their people and customs known.

But the most enriching aspect that participation in the samples generates is the cultural, human and social exchange made up of men and women who come from different parts of the world. This convergence balances gender, age, racial differences, etc.

In general, the activities carried out at festivals go beyond the exhibition of films, some of which are festive in nature accompanied by music, drinks and food, aimed at juries, directors, actors, producers, distributors, the press and special guests. These events vary according to the characteristics of the festivals, but in general, in recent years they have been unifying the styles.

These meetings contribute to the exchange of ideas and the crossing of infinite comments about what is exhibited in reference to the quality of the sample. In those instances, in careful listening, it can be used in the occasional comments of different opinions and tastes, many times, about the same work. It is usual that after the screening of the film, critical specialists express their first impressions when they leave the room discreetly and between known pairs. Sometimes it is common to hear synthetic opinions that give little foundation about the reason for the rejection or acceptance of the recently viewed film, it is only a comment, more emotional than rational.

Participating either on the surface of a festival or delving into the various activities that it proposes, the listeners cross in one way or another the personal vision that one has of the films that must be accounted for in the final award.

But there is another important aspect to highlight: the official or parallel juries that are constituted should focus only on the films that are declared in competition; They can be of national or international origin with respect to the country that summons. Other juries may also be constituted that award special sections. The truth is that the prizes only represent a minimum part of everything that is exhibited in all the samples, sometimes it only reaches five percent of what is exhibited in the entirety of it.

How is the mechanism for choosing the films that participate in competition?

The artistic director of the festival uses a team of programmers who tour the world for a few months visualizing the production of different cinematographies, observed according to the interests of the exhibition.

Finally, the final selection must be put together, and the subjective criteria of the programmer surely imply that material as or more valuable than the one chosen is left out. So that what is selected is not necessarily the most representative of global production in terms of quality. However these are the rules of the game and on this we must work with our judgment.

In the case of SIGNIS, the juries work on the films that are exhibited in the official competition and sometimes in some special section. Normally the juries are made up of members from different countries taking care that one of them is local. The use of the vernacular and the knowledge of the place make him a sort of host-guide for the rest of the jurors. A president is appointed who will act as coordinator and counselor for the other members and will be responsible and interlocutor with the festival authorities. In addition, a secretary is chosen to take note of everything that administratively requires participation in the sample.

The intense and regular routine of the viewing of the films added to moments of social coexistence causes an exchange between the members of the team that contribute to the final dialogue that will define the award. But this instance is not always easy. Although the mission of SIGNIS at festivals is to award films where the values that contribute to peace, the search for transcendence, justice, freedom and human rights in general are present There is an essential factor that often complicates the decision, and has to do with the appreciation of the quality of the work as an aesthetic expression, and formal treatment of the subject.

The historical viewing experience is not always equal in all the members of the group, whether by age, training or accessibility to certain types of works that reach the different countries of origin of the members. But these differences before a difficulty end up being an enriching factor. In the debate not infrequently lit, in most cases a verdict is reached, nurtured and negotiated with the different points of view that will finally be present, in a coherent whole, in the justification that is drafted to state together with the delivery Of the prize.

The final work of the jury will have as its main objective the justification for which the prize is awarded. This elaboration is very important because it will be the testimony of the view that the organization has about the film. In this instance, the president and secretary of the jury must manage the possible procedures so that the justification goes beyond the press. However, the trial will be treasured in the background kept by SIGNIS. The organization publishes annually in the Palmares festivals, juries and awards with their corresponding justifications. This information thus becomes a source of inspiration for the choice of films with which we can work transcending entertainment.

What the SIGNIS award means for the cinema environment

It is obvious that the filmmakers, producers and distributors do not participate in the festivals with the dream and the desire to receive the SIGNIS award, in fact many of them do not know of the existence of the organization or conceive it as a dependent agency of the Church. Situation, the latter, which visualizes us, in the art world with a certain moralistic prejudice, at odds with the liberal spirit of artists. However, the awarding of the prize is an incentive for those productions that have little chance of reaching the distribution market. commercial, precisely because of the elaborate quality of the work.

A prize adds and we know that films that have received the only recognition from our organization could be known post-festival thanks to the fact that the distributor had a valid reason for the promotion. In this way, the SIGNIS award fulfills one of its first objectives. To ensure that good quality films do not die at festivals but have the possibility, although not to reach large audiences, at least to be known.

At the end of the festival, a side of "glamor" of what was lived in the vicinity of renowned directors and actors remains in memory, but fundamentally the affections that were earned in the working days with the colleagues of other associates and the places known with its beauty and sociocultural characteristics. However, for SIGNIS this is only a starting point.

After the described experience, it begins with the awarded material, a work path within the organization. In many associates, films become training tools and become integrated into Educommunication projects with different degrees of development and variety of recipients.

One of them is Film and Spirituality . The objective is: that those who participate in the meetings of these programs discover that the trait of spirituality that is present in the films that are exhibited does not only pass through those that have an explicit religious content, but that there are also other stories with heroes of everyday life that they overcome themselves and fight for a world where in essence the dignity of the other is respected. It does not matter what the story is or what happens to the protagonist; if he is good or bad in his actions or if he is a victim or victimizer. If it is the social, family, or political circumstances that drive their human degradation. It matters how the issue is resolved, the message matters, if the instance to be overcome is plausible, however painful it may be. Whether or not there is an attempt at redemption. It is important to recognize that good, generous, sensitive actions affect the changes that society, whatever it may be, needs.

In short, films are presented that feed the human subjectivity necessary for social change in terms of evangelical values.

Those of us who work with cinema as an expression and instrument of culture know that this artistic manifestation can become a school of life. And so we have corroborated it over time with the implementation of our programs that use cinema, as is also the case with: Small world cinema aimed at adolescents.

The quality film must not die with its awards at festivals, as it happens in many cases. It must be born for another purpose. It must remain eluding the oblivion driven by the novelty that is updated in the interest only of the commercial and contribute one or the other way in those who did not have the fortune to participate in any festival and love the cinema. And this is not easy without mediation that deals with influencing cultural changes. Signis contributes modestly to make this possible.